CORE Director

Catarina Krizancic,PhD, is a cultural anthropologist in the ISO. Through accident, temperament, and necessity, she has worked/lived in Canada, Thailand, Japan, Polynesia, South Africa, UK, East Coast, Midwest, and now the fairy-tale Blue Ridge. Her name and family hail from Croatia. Her research and writing concern structural transformation and political change in Tahiti. At UVa, she manages and mentors undergraduate fieldwork abroad. In her free time, she cycles and (falls off) skateboards, builds things and hunts, reads and writes. (ck3n)

CORE Instructors

Whitney Bevill is a PhD student with a passion for literature from the Francophone world. Currently researching the role of the Mediterranean in the work of Malika Mokeddem, the Maghreb and especially Algeria are the focus of her research. She has taught English in China, Poland, Turkey, and France, and advises everyone to get lost...in a new culture and language. Aside from dissertation research, her hobbies include reading, watching films, and taking care of her beloved cat, Cat Stevens. (wlb3yv)

Ingrid Hakala, PhD, is an educational anthropologist whose dissertation research explored the intersection of ethnic activism and multilingual schooling in eastern Nepal. Having grown up in five countries, she feels compelled to continue traveling and questioning the meanings of cross-cultural experience, both personally and as a mentor and teacher. She enjoys feeding others, listening to stories, and spoiling her pet rabbit. (ihm6t)

.

Hannah Holtzman is a PhD student in French who studies images of Japan in contemporary French literature and film. She spent a couple years teaching English in France and Japan and writes fiction inspired by her travels. She has worked as an editor and freelance writer and holds a MFA in Creative Writing also from UVa. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities, yoga, and experimenting in the kitchen, where her holy grail is the matcha macaron. (hmh3s)

Dionisios Kavadias is a PhD candidate in anthropology who studies the cultural importance of family-based olive oil production in Greece. Drawing from prior research on immigrant experiences in Chicago, as well as from nearly ten years of foreign language and ESL instruction, he leads the seminar "What is Globalization?" He likes to communicate in Greek, and through food. (dkk4t)

Chenyu Wang is an educational anthropologist and PhD student at the Curry School of Education. She is interested in the intersection of nationalism and global identity among Chinese immigrant students. Chenyu has participated in and mentored for study abroad programs in Hong Kong and China. In her spare time (unfathomable!), Chenyu watches Sci-Fi movies and TV shows; and seriously covets a TARDIS of her own (hasn't popped up on eBay…yet) to travel across space, time, and cultures! (cw6bc)

Julie Starr is a PhD candidate in the Anthropology department at UVa. She focuses on cross-cultural analysis of daily life and is interested in how communication styles impact the kind of data anthropologists collect while in the field. She speaks Mandarin and just recently returned from doing fieldwork in Shanghai. (jes5zc)

Thomas Talhelm is a PhD student in social psychology and China Fulbright scholar. He researches China’s distinct northern and southern cultures. If you have a minute, he’ll tell you why kungpao chicken is legit Chinese food and why rice is the key to why southern China is so unique. (tat8dc)

2014-15 CORE Interns

Christina Park is a third year Economics and Latin American Studies major and a 2014-15 intern for the International Studies Office. She hopes to use her experience living and studying abroad in Argentina and Chile to help guide fellow students towards their own fruitful international experiences. When she is not studying or advising, she can be found dancing in downtown C-ville or cozying up to a good book and a steaming black coffee à la Dirty Harry. (cmp2dz)

Niki Shumaker is a second year student in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Foreign Affairs and minoring in Business Spanish. During the summer of 2014, she embraced the culture of Spain while studying abroad in Valencia for ten weeks. While there she had the opportunity to travel to Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, and Lyon, France. She is currently an Education Abroad Intern. In her other time, she enjoys trying (and sometimes failing) difficult recipes, reading novels (her current favorite is Half of a Yellow Sun), and eating at Pigeon Hole. (nrs4ya)